Arnaldo Otegi: “The enemies of peace will not win in the Basque Country”

Friday, 11 May 2012 09:34

In light of the sentences that have come out these days (the Constitutional Court’s one about the Parot Doctrine and our own) we want to make public some reflections that that shouldn’t be forgotten when analysing faithfully the current political situation in our ancient Country.

a) I would like to let you know, in the first place, that in front of all the patter spread these days by some members of the political class, about the independence of the Judicial Power, the Rule of Law… (the judicial independence that the OCDE sets in 64th place between Iran and Egypt)… we are going to provide you a real fact: weeks ago, over a month ago, our sources of information (including even some of those who informed us about March 11th) have passed on to us, with a great precision, which was going to be the criteria of the Parot Doctrine’s sentence… and what the sentence was going to be (including the date on which it was going to be public!) in what they have called the Bateragune Case. Therefore, this verification must bring us to definitively settle any doubt about the fact that each and every one of the “judicial” decisions that affect the pro-independence movement respond exclusively to POLITICAL criteria.

b) In the second place, I want to remind you that I have insistently stated that there is an agenda managed by the enemies of PEACE that seeks, with an ever higher degree of cruelty and desperation, to collapse, block, neutralize and destroy the Peace Process, driven by the Abertzale Left and the whole pro-sovereignty movement. So, let us dispel any shadow of doubt about which is the nature and will of those who manage this agenda: they want to prevent that Peace and Democracy open themselves a path in the Basque Country.

That is their objective and those who manage this agenda are Mr. Rajoy, Mr. Rubalcaba and Mr. Basagoiti, the intelligence agencies… etc.

c) And many may be asking, why oppose Peace?… the reason is simple, they don’t have an agenda for it, they were comfortably settled (making a political and even economic business ) on the “anti-terrorist” scheme that allowed them to avoid responsibilities, to hide their true antidemocratic nature and to cover up the weakness of their political positions. Today, peace terrifies them… and for that reason they need to block the Process and they need to do so where they still have the chance to have a real influence, in the prisons, thought repression…. They need to, because they know that overcoming the phase of the consequences of the conflict will immediately bring us to the phase of dialogue about its causes. And they don’t have an agenda or a credible alternative for this phase, they know that they can’t use democratic reasons to oppose the desire of the Basque people to be respected as a Nation, with the right to freely and democratically decide its own future.

d) These repressive attitudes (which do nothing but add more suffering to dozens of Basque families) try in this occasion to reach at least two extra objectives:

d1) On the one hand they seek that the pro-independence movement gives up, generating new frustrations, making us lose confidence in our possibilities, making us believe that we aren’t capable of making them change their position of strength… don’t you believe them even for a moment… the strength of this state has just been measured to the rhythm of an Argentinian Tango, while the EU and the US looked the other way.

d.2) And this time the state has also sought to “neutralize” a possible candidate for the coming elections in the Basque Country. You’ll understand that for me it is an added honour, to the honour of being an activist of the Abertzale Left, that the State believes that with my candidacy the pro-independence movement would have won the elections in the Basque Autonomous Community. Fine, now we know which candidates aren’t to the liking of the enemies of Peace… so lets prepare with delight the most refined democratic response: Lets make possible that, for the first time in history, the Pro-independence Movement disputes, with high possibilities of achieving a victory, the coming elections in the Basque Autonomous Community.

Finally, let us never forget that just as the disappearance of armed struggle was an unavoidable condition (like the electoral and institutional presence) for our new strategy… they won’t be sufficient without organization, without struggle, without disobedience, peaceful, yes, … but disobedience…, definitely a strategy capable of organizing a massive political challenge for the Enemies of Peace.

This is the difficult path that we have chosen, the sons and daughters of Gernika, and Amaiur, of Telesforo and la Pasionaria, of Santi and Josu, of Jon, of Fidel, of Che… Smile because we are going to fight!